Ultimatum 12+

🔖 January, 1890Britain threatens Portugal with an Ultimatum:Abandon south-east Africa or face a naval

bombardment of Lisbon.Three centuries earlier, the poet Luís de Camões described the region at issue —Behold the lake which is the Nile’s source.And the green Zambezi, too, begins its course.Further upstream, the river becomes serpentine, twisting itself into a vast swamp, known to Europeans as Elephant Marsh, choked with papyrus, monstrous baobabs, and marabou storks like coffins. Every mud bank has a gang of crocodiles, the air thick with mosquitoes and the nearest horizon a tousled fringe of swamp palms …could the European Powers go to War

over such a Wilderness?Praise for Landeg White’s previous writing:‘… rich, informative, sometimes alarming and often moving ... generous and perceptive ... a writer of confidence and subtlety.’Stephen Knight‘Original, subtle, inventive ... Livingstone’s Funeral has huge potential to become the best seller in its genre.’Jack Mapanje‘… a major achievement. Superbly clear and seemingly effortless …’Jose Luiz Passos